New Denver DA Wants Open Grand Juries In Cop Cases

By |August 11, 2004

Chief Denver Deputy District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, campaigning on his years of service as a career prosecutor, won an election yesterday to become Denver’s next District Attorney. He will succeed term-limited Bill Ritter, who strongly endorsed Morrissey, calling him a “consummate prosecutor.” Morrissey defeated Beth McCann and John Walsh. Although Morrissey won only the Democratic primary, there are no Republicans to challenge him in the general election.

A key issue in the race was police shootings. Morrissey has proposed using an “open grand jury,” similar to the current grand juries that meet behind closed doors. Under his proposal, the public could watch the grand juries review evidence. However, no law authorizes open grand juries in Colorado. Morrissey is considered a national DNA expert and has tried many rape and murder cases in his 20 years at the DA’s office.

TCR AT A GLANCE

The award honors individuals in the media or media-related fields who have advanced national understanding on the 21st century challenges of criminal justice. It will be presented Feb 16, 2017 at a dinner at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

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